Followers

Saturday 28 January 2017

Lets Celebrate With Allsorts

I was just putting the finishing touches to this card for my Father-in-law to give to our nephew and his wife on their anniversary when I saw what the theme was for the Allsorts challenge this week. It's Let's Celebrate, so this was the perfect card to enter. I've even manage to make the beginning of the week this time instead of dashing in at the end. I've used the Heart Puzzle die from Tattered Lace along with the CD that goes with the Die to print off one of the gorgeous heart designs and a matching backing paper. I used silver mirri card to matt with and also for the die cut sentiment which is from All Occasions dies. Some white ribbon from my stash to around the card and for the bow, along with some little paper roses that I think I've had forever (well years anyway). Then I found the hearts at the top which I bought a show a couple of years ago, then was never quite sure what to do with them, but they seem to go with this card so after trying them on and off of the card I decided to go with them. 



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Thursday 26 January 2017

Daisy, Daisy.

I've been stamping for quite  few years now and have accumulated a large number of stamps. But as I racked my brain to think, I could not remember having a daisy stamp. This is the new challenge over on the Allsorts Challenge blog this week. But then yesterday as I was looking through some of my many CD's, looking for something else, I found this image on a Katy Sue (Flower Soft) CD. Just right for the challenge, so instead of sitting on the sidelines I can take part this week after all. I printed the Topper and two of the matching backing papers from the CD. Then after I cut everything down to size I distresses the edges with a Tim Holtz Distressing Tool from Tonic. I added a couple of ribbons from my stash and even found some white daisy shaped flowers to add as embellishments too. I've not added a sentiment, as this card will go into my box until I decide who I will send it too.



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Wednesday 25 January 2017

Rudolph Days

As today is the 25th of the month, it's time for the first Rudolph Days challenge of the year. Last year was the first year that I had taken part in any Christmas challenges and I'm so glad that I did, it made the Christmas rush so much easier as I had a great many cards already made. So to start my collection off for this year I used a stamp set from Stampin Up, one of the first that I bought from them and I'm also ashamed to say this was the first time that it had been inked. But you know what they say "better late than never". I found some off cuts of green and red in my scraps box and then with a separate sheet of the green made two A6 card bases. I stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder the tree and the sentiment onto some of the green card and then went around the edge with a gold pen. I then stuck some ribbon around the card and added a bow. Next I stamped the snowflake stamp around the edge of the card so that it was just visible when matted together, again I edged with the gold pen, before mounting all onto the green card bases. I now have the first two cards in my box ready.



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Make It Male

Just a quick post this morning, I made this card for my Father-in-law to give to one of our Nephews who's birthday is in March. As I'm going to be away for most of February I needed to get on and make in advance. It also fits into the theme over at CD Sunday at the moment, which is Make It Male. My card is an 8x8 card using Pollyanna Pickering's Wild Birds.


I did say it was a quick post, this is because we have our Grandson here today.
Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Monday 23 January 2017

With Deep Sadness

It was with deep sadness that I read on Face Book yesterday that the lovely Jayne Nestorenko had passed away after a long battle with Cancer. There were two people who inspired my obsession with stamping, one of them was this lady. I would love to watch her shows on Create and Craft where she would stamp and glitter the wonderful mandala stamps, then later when she was working with Crafters Companion and had her own range of stamps, Cute Companions. She went onto have several more ranges of stamps lastly with Clarity Stamps and the beautiful flowers (these are still on my wish list at present) which are available in both stamps and Groovi plates.



I made this card below in tribute to Jayne for inspiring me to start on my stamping journey. I still have many of these mandala stamps in my stash along with more glitter than I will probably ever use.



My thoughts and prayers are with Jayne's family at this sad time.

Sue

Sunday 22 January 2017

Pixies Snippets Playground

As it's Sunday it's time again for Pixies Snippets Playground. Di has decided to change this to a fortnightly challenge from this month onwards, to give people more time to get their cards made and posted. For my card this week I have used a 6x6 black card base and a piece of the beautiful Graphic 45 paper that was left over from covering my Mini ink pad holder. I matted it onto some gold mirri card and then placed a matching ribbon and bow around the centre. The die cut circle and matt were out of the scraps box (left over from a project before Christmas) all I needed to do was stamp the sentiment, which was from a Chocolate Baroque set and pop onto the card front.


Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Saturday 21 January 2017

Black, White And One Other Colour At PCC

Over on the Perfectly Created Chaos blog the current challenge is for Black,white and one other colour. So this afternoon while try not to be interested in Crate and Craft and the new CHA releases I've made this card for the challenge. It's a 6x6 white card base with black matting, then stamping in black using two stamps from a Chocolate Baroque set called Sunny Sunflowers. I used the two stamps to stamp a background using a Black Onyx ink pad from Versafine and also to stamp two of the larger flower on a separate piece of card. I then cut out one of the flowers as it had been stamped and the other cutting away some of the stamped area making a layer to go on top of the other. My one other colour is Mustard Seed distress ink, this I used to distress the edges of the card and also the sunflowers, using a distress pen in the same colour for the centre of the flower. I then popped a piece of ribbon in a matching colour around the centre of the card before mounting onto the black. Lastly I added the flower using glue gel and also added a Best Wishes sentiment cut from a Tonic die.


Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Thursday 19 January 2017

NBUS Challenge - Pencils On Craft Card

Darnell has a NBUS challenge over on her blog at the moment where she is asking for people to use coloured pencils on craft card. I must admit that I have a large pile of craft card which I seldom use and have also been meaning to try this technique for sometime. The stamp is a Hobby Art stamp that was a stamp of the month in November that I just had to have, but had not used it yet. I stamped onto the craft card using Versamark and white embossing powder, then coloured using Spectrum Noir pencils, I added some very light grey around the outside of the image to give it a bit of a shadow. I then mounted onto some matching card before putting onto a shaped craft card base. Now that it's finished I have to say that I love the effect and don't know why I haven't done this before, I'm sure that it won't be my last.



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Wednesday 18 January 2017

Humming Bird

My card today has been made for the current challenge over at Allsorts Challenge. This week they are looking for Wings On Things. The stamps used on this 6x6 card all come from Designs By Ryn.  I started by making a background using distress inks in Twisted Citron and Mermaid Lagoon, then using Versafine Black Onyx I stamped the flowers and leaves. Next on a separate piece of card I stamped the Humming Bird, I then coloured both the flowers and bird using distress pens. I went over the bird with clear Wink Of Stella to give it a lovely sheen then fussy cut it out and popped it onto the card with glue gel. I then mounted onto some gold mirri card and then onto a green card blank.  While in the USA in June last year Hubby and I were lucky enough to see a pair of these stunning tiny birds who were drinking from a feeder that a cafe owner had filled and popped into the flower bed outside of the cafe. Despite trying for sometime we failed at getting a decent photo of them, their wings move so fast they just look like a blur.



I would also like to enter this into the Customer Challenge over on the Designs By Ryn blog.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comment which are always appreciated.

Sue

Sunday 15 January 2017

Mini Distress Ink Pad Holder

I thought I would share with you a project that I've been working on, one I also thought that I had messed up too. Just before Christmas I found this wonderful storage box for Mini Distress Ink Pads, I found it on the Candy Box Crafts website. So when it arrived I looked through my 12x12 paper pads and decided to use one of my precious Graphic 45 pads. The one I chose was Artisan Style. I merrily started drawing around measuring and cutting out the papers and after sticking on the centre piece (the handle), I realised that the gap in the trays was quite tight in fact so tight that the tray would not slide down the handle. So at this stage I set it to one side hoping that once it was dry the tray would fit, but that did not happen. I was gutted needless to say, but hubby came to the rescue and found a thin file in his workshop and filed away some of the centre gap so I could now get the trays to fit.



I have now finished and am so pleased with the overall look now . The top three trays fit all 60 of the ink pads and the bottom tray which is slightly deeper has room to store blending tool in.


The knobs were some that I had bought for another project but went with this so well and it makes it easier to get the lid off.


Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Thursday 12 January 2017

Texture At PCC and Butterfly Challenge

I made this card to cover two challenges, At Perfectly Created Chaos the theme is Texture and the Butterfly challenge is looking for Jade and/or Jewels. The card looks more jade in real life than it does in this photo, but it has got jewels on as well so I have the challenge covered. I started by embossing a piece of white card stock in a Tattered Lace butterfly embossing folder and the taking a distressed crayon (peacock feathers) and rubbing over the whole of the card. Next I took a damp baby wipe and rubbed over the crayoned piece, as the crayons react with water this gave it a softer look. I then took the same crayon and went back over the top of the raised areas this time I left it alone. I mounted this onto some gold mirri card and then onto a white 6x6 card blank adding some gold and white ribbon around the middle. The fern is from tattered lace and the beast wishes a Tonic die. The butterfly is a Tim Holtz stamp, which was coloured and fussy cut before I added the jewels to the body. I mounted this onto the card with glue gel.



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Wednesday 11 January 2017

Coffee and Cream with Stamping Sensations

My card today was made for the challenge over at Stamping Sensations which this month is Coffee and Cream. The stamp set that I have used is from Chocolate Baroque - As Free As A Bird. I made a 6x6 card base using some brown card and also used the same colour for my matting. I then stamped onto cream card using Brushed Corduroy distress ink for my main image and also the background. For the background I used the tail feather of another stamp from the set. I was tempted to distress the edges of both the background and the main image but in the end decided that I liked as it was, uncoloured in any way.



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Monday 9 January 2017

Something New

The challenge over on the CD Sunday blog at the moment is Something New and new to me is this gorgeous CD by Debbi Moore - Art Deco Elegant Moments. This card is for my Mum's birthday which is on Thursday. She has not got the Internet so I'm safe posting this on here now. The main image has been decoupaged and put onto the card with foam pads, so plenty of dimension going on, as I also cut out the border of of another backing paper and put this on with foam pads too. I've added flat backed pearls and some flowers made from my favourite Crealies die in a matching colour with gems in the centre. It had to be in green as this is her favourite colour



I would also like to enter this into the challenge over at Ooh La La which at the moment is Feminine and this card defiantly fits the bill.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Sunday 8 January 2017

A Birthday Card and Two Challenges

I suddenly remembered this morning that it was our Great Nephew's Birthday tomorrow and I hadn't made him a card yet, and with it being Sunday it's a new challenge over at Pixie's Snippets Playground. So with both of these things in mind I started rummaging in my scraps box. I found lots of small (but not too small) pieces of white card, plus a square piece that I had stamped something on and then abandoned it. Then I remembered that the new challenge over on the Allsorts Challenge blog was Dogs and/or Cats, and sitting in my cupboard were both the cats and dogs sets of stamps from Tim Holtz. As I have never inked any of these stamps I thought it was time to remedy this. The reason that I picked this dog over any of the others and the cats, is the fact that yesterday afternoon my sister turned up with her dog. I had just started chopping up some meat ready for dinner and this was the look that Luka (the dog) gave me thinking that I might throw a piece his way. I created an inky background using distress inks and then over stamped around the edges with a star swirl stamp from Stamping Up and an ink pad with luminous ink however it did not show up in the photo very well. I stamped the dog on a smaller piece of card and then coloured him with Aqua pens before cutting him out with the matching die.



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Friday 6 January 2017

Zucchini At The Butterfly Challange

My card today is for a fairly new to me challenge blog, Butterfly Challenge. When I say new to me this will be the second time that I've entered anything, but the blog itself has sat in my sidebar for many months with the intention of me taking part. When I saw what the challenge was this month I was a bit stumped, but thanks to Valery, who runs the Butterfly Challenge, she has put up a description of the colour Zucchini, which is hues of yellow through to hues of green. Then I wondered if I had anything that looked like it could be this colour. In the end I found everything that I needed for this card in my scrap box with the exception of the base card which came from my stash (if I hadn't already entered into Pixies Snippets Playground this week this card would have been ideal).



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Thursday 5 January 2017

Allsorts Challenge - Something New

The challenge over on the Allsorts Challenge blog this week is Something New, and my something new for this challenge is New Lavinia Stamps. I bought them last November but this is the first time that they have been used. My background was made with some mopping up from a play that I had last year using Dylusion sprays. The colour is so strong with these sprays that I managed to create  several backgrounds for future projects. I used a mask and Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink to create the mountains in the background and also for some of the foliage and stars. The rest was stamped with versafine Black Onyx. I used a Wink of Stella on the fairy wings, a gold pen on the flowers and stickles on the stars. 



Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Tuesday 3 January 2017

Pixies Snippets Playground

Well Christmas came and went pretty fast and apart from a little online crafty shopping it was craft free for me too. This is my first card since before Christmas and it's for the new challenge over at Pixies Snippets Playground, all you have to do is use a snippet somewhere on your card to enter. This card was made completely for my snippets box including the card base that I found in the box (not sure how that got there as there was nothing wrong with it). The patterned paper was from a piece left over that I had used for another project and was printed from MCS Summer Bliss CD. On Friday of last week I received some new Tattered Lace dies, bought before just before Christmas, so I used this beautiful butterfly and foliage die on this card along with a Thank You die. I always like to keep some thank you cards in my box as you never know when you are going to need one.



Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue